Called to Be Holy
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV)
The word holiness has been damaged by misuse.
For many people it conjures up rules, appearances, and the effort of looking more spiritual than everyone else. Some have grown up in environments where holiness was measured almost entirely by externals, and the result was people who were carefully regulated and inwardly untouched.
Biblical holiness is much richer, and much better, than that.
Peter writes, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
Begin with the word itself. The Hebrew qadosh and the Greek hagios both carry the root idea of separation, being set apart, distinct, other. When applied to God, holiness describes His absolute otherness: He is not a bigger version of us. Isaiah’s vision in the temple captures it, with the seraphim calling “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3), the only attribute of God repeated three times in Scripture.
When applied to us, holiness means to be set apart for God. Your life belongs to Him, and therefore your values, desires, choices and behaviour increasingly reflect His character.
Notice that Peter is quoting. “Be holy, because I am holy” comes from Leviticus, where it appears several times (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7). Peter is deliberately applying to the church the language God used of Israel. Read on to 1 Peter 2:9 and he does it explicitly: “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.”
That reference to Leviticus matters, because Leviticus 19, the chapter most famous for “Be holy, for I am holy,” goes on to describe what holiness looks like in practice: leaving harvest for the poor, paying wages on time, not slandering, not holding grudges, honest weights and measures, and loving your neighbour as yourself. Holiness in Scripture is intensely practical and profoundly social. It was never mainly about appearance.
Now, the crucial theological order. Look at the word “called” in Peter’s sentence: “he who called you is holy.” The calling comes first. Holiness is a response to a prior act of God, not a qualification for it.
Peter has just spent the previous verses on that prior act: we have been given “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1:3), and we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ” (1:19). Holiness is what redeemed people grow into, not what unredeemed people achieve.
So holiness is not how we earn salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. But the grace that saves us also begins to transform us, and a claimed salvation producing no transformation at all is a claim Scripture will not endorse.
And notice this is the work of the Holy Spirit, whose very name tells you His agenda. He does not only make us feel God’s presence; He produces the character of Christ within us. Galatians 5:22-23 lists that character as fruit, which is an organic image: fruit is not manufactured by the branch, but it does not appear without the branch either.
So holiness reaches into real life, and here Peter’s phrase “in all you do” refuses to let us compartmentalise. Consider the questions honestly.
What are you watching, and what is it forming in you? How are you speaking, particularly about people who are not present? How are you treating people who can do nothing for you? What do you do when nobody is looking, which is where character actually lives? What is happening with your thoughts, your sexuality, your money and your attitude?
Money and sexuality appear on that list deliberately, because they are the two areas where the surrounding culture most confidently contradicts Scripture, and therefore the two areas where a Christian’s distinctiveness is most visible and most costly.
This truth can be bent in two directions.
The first is fear-driven perfectionism, which mistakes anxiety for reverence. If your pursuit of holiness leaves you constantly uncertain of God’s acceptance, you have detached it from the gospel. Your standing rests on Christ’s finished work, permanently.
The second is the reduction of holiness to a list of things you do not do. Negative holiness is easy to measure and easy to fake. Biblical holiness includes generosity, courage, kindness, justice and love, none of which can be achieved by abstaining from anything.
And here is the framing Peter gives that makes the whole thing bearable and even beautiful: this is about belonging. Because you belong to a holy God, He is teaching you to live differently. Holiness is not the entrance fee. It is the family resemblance.
Most of us have heard someone say, “You’ve got your mum’s laugh,” or “You walk just like your dad.” Nobody practised those things. They came with belonging to the family, and they grew as we spent time together. Holiness works in much the same way.
Practically, begin where Peter does: with a mind prepared for action (1:13) and a heart surrendered. Ask one honest question this morning: Lord, is there an area of my life I have quietly marked as exempt? Most of us have one, and most of us know exactly what it is.
Start today with a surrendered heart: “Lord, let my life look more like Jesus.”
One further point about holiness, because Peter grounds it in something specific.
Read what comes just before our verse: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14). And just after: “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (1:17).
Two images, both about belonging. Children resemble their family. Foreigners live by the customs of home rather than of the country they are passing through.
So holiness is essentially about which world you belong to. The Christian is not primarily avoiding things; they are living by the customs of a kingdom they have not yet arrived in.
That makes distinctiveness inevitable rather than effortful.
Holiness is not a burden to escape. It is the beautiful evidence that your life belongs to God and His Spirit is changing you.
Reflection
1. Is there an area of your life you have quietly marked as exempt from God’s authority? Name it honestly today.
2. Has your idea of holiness been mostly about what you avoid? What positive holiness, generosity, courage, kindness, justice, might God be calling you to?
Prayer
Father, You are holy, and You have called me to belong to You. Thank You that holiness is not the price of Your acceptance but the family resemblance of Your children. Forgive me for reducing it to appearances, and forgive me for the areas I have quietly marked as exempt. Reach into my thoughts, my speech, my money, my sexuality and my attitude. Holy Spirit, produce the character of Christ in me rather than merely restraining my behaviour. Let my life look more like Jesus. In His name, amen.
Declaration
I belong to a holy God, and His Spirit is changing me. Holiness is not my burden; it is my family resemblance.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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